Each year, our Director of Engineering, Steve Hirsch, recruits two summer interns to help with gathering data about our island to help with the planning of future projects – and to help further the students’ education with real world experience. This year Spencer Parrish from Richmond, VA, a rising senior in Geology at the College of Charleston (on the right in the photo), and Ian Lovice from Sumter, SC, a recent Clemson grad in Biosystems Engineering, join us as they work on fine tuning the Geographical Information System (GIS) data about our island.

Ian Lovice and Spencer Parrish

While they are learning to use the ESRI ArcGIS software by familiarizing themselves with the existing GIS database, they are also taking measurements of our storm drain system, backflows, meters and tertiary irrigation system to corroborate the information before putting it into the software. This will improve the information that is used to detail contracts for future work on these systems. They are working on producing a clearer picture of what sea level rise will look like on Seabrook Island using this data, combining it with systems used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition, Spencer and Ian are hoping to create a Damage Assessment tool to be used after a hurricane by utilizing ESRI software and an application called Survey123.

Ian and Spencer will be working here until the end of July. If you see them out and about this summer, thank them for their help in planning our future.